The iconic TV sitcom and movie producer Norman Lear, who has produced successful TV sitcoms including 'All in the Family' and 'The Jeffersons' and dominated network ratings in the 1970s, passed away at 101 at his home in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
He was the executive producer of the cult movie classics 'The Princess Bride' and 'Fried Green Tomatoes' and was nominated for an Academy Award for best screenplay for 'Divorce American Style.'
Norman Lear Passes Away at 101
Lear's family announced his death on his website. His family said Lear lived a life of curiosity, tenacity, and empathy, and he deeply loved the country and spent a lifetime helping to preserve its founding ideals of justice and equality for all.
His family confirmed a private service for immediate family will be held.
"He began his career in the earliest days of live television and discovered a passion for writing about the real lives of Americans, not a glossy ideal. He stuck to his conviction that the 'foolishness of the human condition' made great television, and eventually he was heard," the family added.
Director Rob Reiner, who played in 'Meathead,' posted on X, formerly Twitter, to pay tribute to Lear on Wednesday.
Reiner shared that he loved Norman Lear, who acted as his second father, with all his heart. He sent some love to Lear's wife, Lyn, and the Lear family.
Who is Norman Lear?
Lear began his career with 'All in the Family' in 1971, which tackled fraught topics of racism, feminism, and social inequalities that no one had yet dared touch. The show won an Emmy for Outstanding New Series, which was focused on the white working-class Bunker family and its small-minded, irascible, discriminatory, and oddly likable patriarch Archie Bunker.
In his 2014 memoir, 'Even This I Get to Experience,' he shared the success of his series and stories drawn from the real experiences of his writers that lent to the authenticity of the characters they developed.
He said the audiences themselves taught him that a person can get some beautiful laughs on the surface with funny performers and good jokes. But he shared that if one wants people laughing from the belly, the person stands a better chance if they could get them caring first.
Furthermore, his political advocacy led to the establishment of the liberal political organization People for the American Way.
In a 2016 documentary about Lear's life and career, 'Everybody Loves Raymond' creator Phil Rosenthal said that television could be broken into two parts: BN and AN: Before Norman and After Norman.
Lear kept working even in his 90s as he produced and hosted three episodes of 'Live in Front of a Studio Audience' with Jimmy Kimmel, which won Primetime Emmy Awards in 2019 and 2020.
He also received accolades that spanned generations, being presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton in 1999. He was inducted into the Kennedy Center at its annual honors in 2017, becoming the oldest nominee and winner of an Emmy at 97 in 2019, then breaking his record in 2020.
Lear married three times, but he was recently married to Lyn in 1987 with six children. Their children have a 47-year age gap between the oldest and youngest.
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